It’s something of a tipping point, wouldn’t you say, when three good vegetarian restaurants open within the span of a few months?

The Acorn (the finest), The Parker (parks itself between bistro and fine food) and more recently Heirloom (in the space where Primo’s grew a little too old and weary).

Of the three, Heirloom has the coolest room — it’s transformed from dark and muscular to Arctic white and feminine.

The masculine-feminine arc is interesting in another sense. One of the owners, Yogi Johl, is a former Olympic wrestler who competed in Atlanta and Barcelona and he’s still a big guy of 280 pounds; the other owner, Gus Greer, also runs the burly Bourbon and Johnny Foxes bars).

As general manager David Kenny explained it, “How many 280-pound old guys are there? These are two big guys and they want to change their eating habits. I’d call them opportunivores and they sometimes crave a steak.”

On the other hand, the chef is the gorgeous Georgia Morely, once a classically trained chef, more recently into holistic nutrition. She’s had a colourful career in recent years, as a personal chef. Most recently she cooked for Lululemon founder Chip Wilson’s family as well Henrik Sedin’s (loved the salads but ate meat, too). “I had the pleasure of cooking for Sting when he did a tour and was in rehearsals here a few years ago,” she says. She’s also fed Jack Nicholson and Sean Penn during movie shoots in B.C. But the celeb gig she’s proudest of is the time she cooked for Kermit the Frog (or at least his puppeteer). “I have a picture of myself with Kermit that I still look at. That was more exciting than Sting.” She’s not laughing so … not joking!

She wants to be clear about the food at Heirloom. It’s not high end. It’s casual dining that’ll exceed expectations, she says. “There’s been a lot of discussion in the media that it’s high-end food. And it’s not just for vegetarians. It’s for people who need to eat more vegetables, too.”

My husband’s a reluctant vegetarian when he must be. But he’s changing his tune after having flavourful, imaginative meals at these recent vegetarian places. We expected the share plates at Heirloom to be smallish but servings are hefty. We thought we’d need at least four dishes if not five but three would have sufficed. And prices are very attractive, at about $12 to $15, average.

Hearty dishes that even a meat-seeking guy would like are Persian sheep’s cheese with cranberry ginger compote, fried olives, seeded crostini and dates; cornmeal battered avocado frites (they tended to break too easily); and pappardelle with tomatoes, lentils, spinach, roasted shallots and ricotta. Anyone would love the heirloom popcorn with coconut oil, nutritional yeast and beet powder. She says nutritional yeast is an anti-stress food and the body wants it. “It’s the Coca-Cola of health food.”

A white bean stew with carrots, leek, delicata squash, parsnips and cauliflower mash looked robust and hearty but needed more seasoning, however. Raw cauliflower ‘risotto’ (with pumpkin seed pesto, vegan walnut cheese, watermelon radish and beets) had actually been processed to look like risotto. A little, however, went a long way. It was like eating half a head of cauliflower.

Dishes that I’d take a pass on next time? Wild and foraged mushrooms with coconut cream, fennel, garlic, cider; it was too soupy and I’d have preferred a thicker sauce. A grain-free flat bread with caramel apple, baby arugula, poached garlic and manchego cheese sounded so good but the bread was limp and lifeless. It made me long for gluten.

Desserts? I’d go for the chai pumpkin mousse with cashew cream and walnut date crumble. We weren’t too enthralled with the vanilla chia pudding with date candy and pomegranate molasses. The texture of soaked chia is a little slimy. Our server added leavening: “I tell people we get chia pets from Walmart and crush them up.”

The food had ups, some downs but I liked the place. Servers are friendly, the wine list is interesting (although the bar was out of two wines by the glass), and the music, too, is well chosen.

Heirloom

1509 West 12th Ave., 604-733-2231. heirloomrestaurant.ca

Open for lunch and dinner daily and brunch on weekends.

Overall: ***1/2

Food: ***

Ambience: ***1/2

Service: ***1/2

Price: $/$$

Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Reviews are rated out of five stars. — Less than $60 for two without wine, tip and tax; $$ — $60 to $120; $$$ — more than $120

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